Balkan Affairs

The singers of the Neue Vocalsolisten see themselves as explorers and discoverers: in exchange with composers, they are constantly searching for new forms of vocal expression. One focus is on collaboration with artists who virtuously exploit the possibilities of digital media, with an interest in networking, in playing with genres, in dissolving space, perspectives and functions. Thus, idiosyncratic interdisciplinary formats between music theater, performance, installation and concert staging characterize the projects of the ensemble, whose work, with more than 30 premieres annually, is considered worldwide to be leading and unique in the field of contemporary vocal.

The Neue Vocalsolisten have been honoured with numerous awards for their contributions to contemporary vocal music, including the Silver Lion of the Venice Biennale 2021 and the Italian critics’ prize Premio Abbiati 2022. The jury of the Venice Biennale stated that the Neue Vocalsolisten is an ensemble whose "creative collaboration with some of the greatest living composers has decisively advanced the development of the contemporary a cappella repertoire".

Helena Skljarov (b. 1993 in Zagreb, Croatia) graduated from the Academy of Music at the University of Zagreb in 2017 with a thesis on the analysis of 20th century music. In 2014, she began her composition studies with Berislav Šipuš at the same university. In 2018, she received a scholarship from the Croatian Composers Society Rudolf and Margita Matz. She also took part in various master classes, including the Vienna International Summer Academy, the Mixtur festival in Barcelona, as well as the Zagreb Music Academy and Aix-en-Provence. In addition to works for various solo instruments, she has written for chamber ensembles and orchestra, as well as two operas. From fall 2019, she studied in Lyon with Martin Matalon. In July 2020, she completed her composition studies with her opera "Nothing. Almost" for voices, instruments and electronics on texts by Daniil Charms. Her string quartet "Silence" was selected for the ISCM World New Music Days 2021 in Shanghai and Nanjing.

Hanan Hadžajlić (1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina) graduated with BA and MA degrees in flute and in composition from the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo. She is currently a PhD student in flute (class of Ljubiša Jovanović) at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She is also pursuing a PhD in transdisciplinary studies of contemporary art and media with Andrija Filipović and Miodrag Šuvaković at the Faculty of Media and Communication in Belgrade. Hanan Hadžajlić has participated in composition seminars by Heiner Goebbels, Philippe Manoury, Peter Ablinger, Vinko Globokar, Wolfgang Rihm, Dieter Ammann and Michel van der Aa. In 2016 she was a fellow at the Science Underground Academy and in 2017 at the Lucerne Festival Composer Seminar. Works by Hanan Hadžajlić have been performed in many countries in Europe, Israel and the USA. She is a member of SONEMUS (Society of New Music Sarajevo) and director of INSAM (Institute of Contemporary Art Music, Sarajevo).

Jug Marković (*1987 Belgrade, Serbia) studied composition (MA) at the University of Arts in Belgrade as well as archaeology. This was followed by several years of study in Paris, where he completed the course in composition and computer music at IRCAM. As a composer he works in acoustic, electroacoustic and electronic music. His approach is mostly intuitive, and he tries to avoid strict concepts and formalistic systems in his music in favor of stylistic heterogeneity, the hybridity of genres, and the exploration/recontextualization of procedures and sound gestures that have been historically charged with certain meanings and connotations. He is particularly passionate about electronic music and its potential to juggle genres and expectations. His works have been performed at many renowned new music festivals in Europe (such as ManiFeste, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Biennale Nemo, Time of Music, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, New Music Dublin). They have been awarded many times at competitions. Currently he is working on works for IRCAM and Divertimento Ensemble.

Ana Pandevska (b. 1985 in Skopje, Macedonia), after graduating from the Music and Ballet Education Center Ilija Nikolovski–Luj, went to the USA on a scholarship for two months to the Department of Composition at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. After graduation she worked as a volunteer in the folklore ensemble Tanec and later as a piano teacher at Credo Music School. She is a long-time member of several choirs: Piccolo, St. Zlata Meglenska, Tanec. Ana Pandevska’s special interest is vocal music, folklore and jazz, which is reflected in some of her compositions as polystylistic and polyphonic, among others. For several years she has been researching in the field of electroacoustic music.

Nina Perović (*1985, Montenegro) completed her composition studies at the Academy of Music in Cetinje with Žarko Mirković. At the same time, she earned a BA and a specialist degree in piano in the classes of Aleksandar Serdar and Vladimir Bochkariov. With a Basileus scholarship, she continued her composition studies at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with Uroš Rojko, where she earned her master’s degree. She earned her doctorate at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Srđan Hofman. She was also enrolled in the postgraduate course in composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, supervised by Klaus Lang. Her studies were flanked by master classes with Manos Tsangaris, Enno Poppe, Vinko Globokar, Stefan Prins. Nina Perović’s catalog of works includes works (acoustic and electronic) for symphony orchestra, vocal and chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. She also writes for theater and film, as well as for children’s projects. She currently works as a lecturer in music analysis, counterpoint and arranging at the Academy of Music in Cetinj and as a professor of music analysis. She is a member of the Department of Music at the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Petra Strahovnik (*1986 in Slovenia) studied composition with Uroš Rojko, Martijn Padding and Peter Adriaansz. With the piece "Prana" for symphony orchestra she won at the 66th International Rostrum of Composers. As part of an art residency with the ensemble Modelo62, Petra Strahovnik is developing the project DisOrders. This is several artworks that combine music and performance art with the question of how we deal with mental health in our societies. Petra Strahovnik was, among other things, a scholarship holder and artist in residence at the Villa Concordia Bamberg (Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Art). She was also awarded the Berlin Art Prize for Music 2021 (Academy of Arts Berlin). The composer sees herself "esoterically speaking as a passenger in the present time and space, open to emerging thoughts, to creating ideas, to collecting pieces for artistic work that move the mind."

Ylli Daklani (*1998) is an Albanian composer from Kosovo. Born in Mitrovica, Kosovo, his musical journey began as a chorister in his hometown. He studied composition at the University of Prishtina with Professors Drinor Zymberi and Mendi Mengjiqi, and conducting with Professor Edon Ramadani.

Ylli Daklani was awarded prizes at the Artistes en Herbe Composing Competition (2017), at the 11th pre-art Competition for young composers in Switzerland (2018), at the “Konkursi për kompozitorë të rinjë nga Prishtina International Vocal Festival 2018” in Kosovo, and at the first edition of The Balkan Composer Competition in Prishtina 2019. He attended masterclasses with Thomas Simaku (Albania) and Jérôme Comte (clarinet, France), later with Marco Stroppa and Franck Bedrossian, and he held a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In 2021 he won the first prize for composition in Ars Kosova Music Competition, in 2022 the first prize at Chopin Piano Fest, in 2023 the Balkan Composer Competition in Prishtina. Recently, the 7th Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers awarded him also the first prize. His work has been performed by Kosovo Philharmonic Choir, Oerknal Ensemble, and Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (NEC).